Residential segregation in the United States: Difference between revisions

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=== White Flight ===
=== White Flight ===
[[White flight]] is the departure of whites from places (such as urban neighbor hoods or schools) increasingly or predominantly populated by minorities. <ref> "White Flight." Def. 1. M-W.com. Merriam-Webster. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white+flight>. </ref> White flight may increase residential segregation in medium-income housing.
[[White flight]] is the departure of whites from places (such as urban neighbor hoods or schools) increasingly or predominantly populated by minorities. <ref> "White Flight." Def. 1. M-W.com. Merriam-Webster. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white+flight>. </ref> White flight may increase residential segregation in medium-income housing.

== White flight and its consequences==
{{POV-section|date=April 2009}}
Data on home equity shows that homes in African American communities increase at a rate significantly slower than that of homes in white communities. The underlying reason for this phenomenon is that homes in white neighborhoods are viable options for any buyer who can afford them. Homes in neighborhoods that contain more than twenty-percent African-American households, conversely, are not seen as viable options to every person who may afford them. Whites may not want to live in a neighborhood that contains a significant number of African-Americans because they feel the schools their children will be sent to will not be adequate, that their [[home equity]] will not increase as much as if they were to buy a home in a white neighborhood, or that there may be too much crime. Regardless of the real motive behind moving out of a neighborhood that is becoming “too black” or moving into a neighborhood that is “more white,” whites can easily explain their behavior as non-racist by attributing their decision to financial reasons. The potential buyer's market for any given person trying to sell a home in a neighborhood with many African-American residents is smaller, as a result of whites that are unwilling to move into the neighborhood. With the lowered demand for homes in neighborhoods containing African-American residents, the equilibrium price at which a given house may be sold in such neighborhoods is pushed down.<ref>Shapiro, Thomas M. 2004. The Hidden Cost of Being African American. How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality. New York: Oxford University Press.</ref>

After a threshold is reached where a neighborhood becomes approximately twenty-percent or more African-American, [[white flight]] takes place, which is responsible for the polarization of neighborhoods by race. The [[Racial segregation|segregation]] of neighborhoods that takes place is responsible for decreased economic opportunities among African-Americans, largely due to decreased opportunities for [[social networking]]. A study conducted by Douglas Massey compiled data from neighborhoods in Philadelphia, providing probability estimates about the likelihood of contact between a black or white individual having contact with different categories of people. Residents of black neighborhoods are more likely to have contact with high school dropouts, female-headed families, families on welfare, and unemployed workers. Some researchers believe that this phenomenon is the result of the fact that many blacks are likely to be uneducated, have children out of wedlock, be welfare recipients, and to engage in criminal activities. Therefore, residents of all-black or majority black neighborhoods are more likely to become acquainted with people low on the social status spectrum. These residents, in turn, are restricted from [[social networks]] that allow them to hear about and receive offers for higher-paying jobs that would allow them to achieve higher class status.<ref>Massey, Douglas S. The Effects of Racial Segregation on Black Social and Economic Well-Being. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1987.</ref>


== Preferences for racial composition of neighborhoods==
== Preferences for racial composition of neighborhoods==

Revision as of 18:22, 13 December 2010

Residential segregation refers to the physical separation of cultural groups based on residence and housing [1], or a form of segregation that "sorts population groups into various neighborhood contexts and shapes the living environment at the neighborhood level." [2] While it has traditionally been associated with racial segregation, the name refers to any kind of sorting of populations based on some criteria, and need not be enforced from the top down.[3]

Residential segregation in the United States

Residential Segregation is measured with the Index of dissimilarity. This statistic shows how many people of one ethnicity or race would have to move out of an area in order to make the area match the ethnic composition of the entire urban area.

Metropolitan cities in the United States are extremely segregated along racial lines. Surveys in 1990 discovered that 69.4% of people would need to move for racial residential equity to be achieved. [4]

The most obvious case of residential sorting is when a dominant/majority group (generally whites) imposing segregation on a subordinate/minority group (in case of the U.S., the paradigmatic example would be policies aimed towards African-Americans).[1] It is still the case that “blacks traditionally experience severe prejudice and discrimination in urban housing markets” and they “tend to live in systematically disadvantaged neighborhoods.” [5] Moreover, this ongoing segregation has long-term effects on African-American families and their ability to buy and sell homes, due to the red-lining of those districts described below.[6].

More broadly, there is support[3] for the suggestion that residential sorting diminishes trust between different ethnic groups in a society, as the sorting ensures that members of the different groups will interact less over time, which makes members of those groups less likely to be sympathetic towards members of other groups. This makes it easier for members of all groups to stereotype other groups, and thus allows for the creation of a stronger distinction between the us and a them. Uslaner[3] argues that this type of sorting has been occurring in the United States for quite some time, although he points out that the sorting is happening more by political preference and socio-economic status than by ethnic background, and his suggestion is that this may well, over time, destabilize democratic life.

Why residential segregation?

Residential segregation can result from what is known as institutional discrimination, or the “denial of opportunities and equal rights to individuals and groups that results from the normal operations of society.” [7] The collaboration between institutional discrimination and residential segregation has inadvertently created a dual housing market which is widely acknowledged, supported by a sizable literature.[citation needed] This dual housing market is one “segregated by race, where African Americans suffer limited housing selections as a result of institutional and overt discrimination.” Many factors are involved in the phenomenon of residential discrimination. For instance, a preponderance of evidence suggests that majority black neighborhoods typically experience higher crime rates, lower home values, and a general diminished quality of life.[8][9] Due to an assortment of practices, such as real estate agents exercising overt discrimination and lending institutions performing institutional discrimination, the dual housing market that disadvantages African-Americans is maintained, perpetuated, and often augmented at the expense of equal treatment for the minority group.[10]

Intertwined modes of discrimination

Residential segregation which tends to advantage whites at the expense of racial minorities in the U.S. is manifested in several intertwined modes of discrimination.

Redlining

Redlining, as institutional discrimination, can be summed up as “the pattern of discrimination against people trying to buy homes in minority and racially changing neighborhoods.” [11] As a practice, however, redlining can be revealed in several different ways which all legally segregate whites from African Americans and other ethnic and minority groups.

Redlining originally comes from loaners actually marking certain neighborhoods red on “appraisal maps,” meaning these neighborhoods were ineligible because there were too many black families living there already.[12] In this example, redlining was simply a term to refer to the practice of discrimination in mortgage lending. Furthermore, redlining was utilized by banks where they procedurally “code…neighborhoods ‘red’—the lowest possible rating—on their loan evaluations, thereby making it next to impossible to get a mortgage for a home” in districts where real estate agents wanted to maintain the racial make-up of white communities.[13] Lastly, by using redlining, banks and mortgage lenders do not make loans available to minority and ethnic groups. Inevitably, there is a decline in the frequency of loans and the amount of loan money made available to minorities; less encouragement of accepting minority loan applications and “marketing policies that exclude such minority areas.” [6] Elevated mortgage costs and less desirable terms on loans result from the weakening competition in the mortgage market, along with a reduction in finance options for purchasing homes for borrowers in minority neighborhoods.[6]

Steering

In conjunction with redlining comes the overt discrimination mentioned above in the form of steering. This is an occurrence "in which agents do not disclose properties on the market to qualified African-American home seekers" and steer them to neighborhoods that have a similar racial make-up as the home seeker. They are especially steered away from predominantly white communities.[13]

Why redlining and steering?

In essence, a reasoning behind redlining and steering is “white neighborhoods…[are] supposed to stay white” and retain a predominantly white racial make-up. This is a way in which the dominant race can have an advantage over other minority groups and preserve their privilege and superiority.[12] According to Conley, “black housing may be worth less because the majority group (whites) controls the market” and inherently “segregation is in this group’s interest” to preserve this control.[14]

White Flight

White flight is the departure of whites from places (such as urban neighbor hoods or schools) increasingly or predominantly populated by minorities. [15] White flight may increase residential segregation in medium-income housing.

Preferences for racial composition of neighborhoods

Is residential segregation a product of personal desires for certain types of neighbors? Camille Charles, on behalf of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, gathered data from the Los Angeles Survey of Urban Inequality to determine the preferences of White, Latino, Black and Asian residents for racial makeup of neighborhoods. The study concludes that residents always favor having more “in-group” residents, or residents of their own race, than “out-group” residents. Whites had the highest degree of preference for having the majority of residents “co-ethnic” or of the same race. Whites also had the highest degree of preference for completely homogeneous (i.e. 100% white residents) racial makeup. Additionally, among Whites, Latino, and Asians, blacks are universally the least-preferred out group neighbors. Some researchers contend that this reaction may stem from the fact that statistically speaking, black neighborhoods have higher percentages of high school dropouts, single-parent families, and the unemployed. Therefore, these neighborhoods were likely to experience significantly higher rates of property crime, violent crime, and decreased home equity appreciation. In addition, schools populated by all-black or majority black students were found to have dramatically lower scores on standardized tests. The phenomenon of white flight therefore may apply to all non-black races fleeing from neighborhoods with too many black residents. As a result of such data, the average respondent did not desire the high degree of racial integration that is actually present in their particular neighborhood. The average respondent indicated a desire for neighborhoods where their own race makes up at least 20% or more of the neighborhood than any other race. However, evidence presented by the survey may indicate a white flight phenomenon largely fueled by economic reasons, as opposed to outright prejudice. An alternate explanation to the survey data is that respondents are answering in socially desirable ways that are different from their actual preferences.[16]

Gentrification

Although it is not always connected to race and can sometimes be generalized by class, gentrification or urban renewal is another form of residential segregation. Gentrification has historically been defined as higher income newcomers displacing lower income residents from up-and-coming urban neighborhoods. The concept has been understood as reflecting the residential turnover of an area that was predominantly composed of residents of color, to one populated by higher income whites. Yet definitions of gentrification fail to mention this racial component. Critical race theory is used to examine race as an implicit assumption that merits investigation as demographic changes in the U.S. challenge these class-based definitions.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Schaeffer, Richard T. Race and Ethnicity in the United States. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. page 28
  2. ^ Kawachi, Ichiro and Lisa F. Berkman. Neighborhoods and Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. page 265.
  3. ^ a b c Eric M. Uslaner, "Producing and Consuming Trust". Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 115, No. 4 (Winter, 2000-2001), pp. 569-590
  4. ^ Krivo, Lauren J., and Robert L. Kaufman. "How Low Can It Go? Declining Black-White Segregation in Multiethnic Context." Demography 36.1 (1999): 93-109. Jstor. Population Association of America, Feb. 1999. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2648136>.
  5. ^ Gallagher. Charles A. Rethinking the Color Line: Readings in Race and Ethnicity. 3rd ed. Bostion: McGraw-Hill, 2007. page 225
  6. ^ a b c Shapiro, Thomas M. The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. page 108.
  7. ^ Schaeffer, Richard T. Race and Ethnicity in the United States. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. page 92
  8. ^ Conley, Dalton. Being Black, Living in the Red. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. page 39.
  9. ^ Keizer, Kees, Lindenberg, Siegwart, Steg, Linda. "The Spreading of Disorder", Science Vol. 322. no. 5908, pp. 1681 - 1685 (2008)
  10. ^ Conley, Dalton. Being Black, Living in the Red. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. page 39-40.
  11. ^ Schaeffer, Richard T. Race and Ethnicity in the United States. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. page 104.
  12. ^ a b Schwalbe, Michael. Rigging the Game: How Inequality is Reproduced in Everyday Life. New York: Oxford University press, 2008. page 73.
  13. ^ a b Conley, Dalton. Being Black, Living in the Red. Berkely: University of California Press, 1999. page 6.
  14. ^ Conley, Dalton. Being Black, Living in the Red. Berkely: University of California Press, 1999. page 38.
  15. ^ "White Flight." Def. 1. M-W.com. Merriam-Webster. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white+flight>.
  16. ^ Charles, Camille. “Neighborhood Racial Composition Preferences: Evidence from a Multiethnic Metropolis.” Social Problems Aug. 2000: 379-407.
  17. ^ Martinez-Cosio,Maria. "Coloring housing changes: Reintroducing race into gentrification" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, TBA, New York, New York City, Aug 11, 2007.
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